A TEENAGE drug dealer from Runcorn caught in possession of thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine at a hotel in Liverpool has been jailed for more than two years.

Robert Lingham was arrested for an unconnected matter by members of Runcorn Local Policing Unit’s Beat Initiative Team at a hotel in James Street, Liverpool, on the morning of Wednesday September 11.

After the 18-year-old had been apprehended his hotel room was searched.

Police subsequently found several hundred individual wraps of crack cocaine and a small quantity of cannabis inside the room.

When questioned in custody Lingham denied knowing anything about the large quantity of crack cocaine in the room.

But at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, October 10 he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply the class A drug, as well as a charge of possession of class B drug cannabis.

Lingham, who is from the Halton Brook area of Runcorn, was jailed for two years and seven months and ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge.

Following sentencing, Detective Sergeant Rob McLoughlin, of Runcorn LPU's Beat Initiative Team, said: "Thousands of pounds worth of individual wraps of crack cocaine were found in Robert Lingham's hotel room and he subsequently admitted to possessing them with intent to supply the class A drugs to others.

"Class A drugs have a hugely detrimental impact on our communities.

"They cause widespread misery and removing those involved in drug dealing from our communities is of paramount importance.

"I hope that this case reaffirms the message that drug dealing will not be tolerated by Cheshire Constabulary and that the case deters others from getting involved in the supply of illegal drugs.

"I also hope that Lingham, who is only 18, uses his time behind bars to reflect on the life he has been leading and changes his ways."